JOYA Barcelona: A decade of artistic excellence

Over the years, JOYA Barcelona has effectively provided a platform that encourages ‘art jewellery’ designers to showcase their innate talents, fuelling Spain’s art jewellery sector.

JOYA Barcelona Art Jewellery & Objects Fair is celebrating 10 years of offering jewellery artists an avenue to place their creativity in the international
limelight.

Since its inception, the fair has seen the participation of 1,818 individual jewellery artists or those represented by schools, galleries and institutions.

Aimed at trade professionals and the general public, JOYA gathers more than 22,000 visitors under one roof.

For its 10th edition to be held on October 4 to 6, the fair is moving to Disseny Hub Barcelona – an open, innovative and experimental municipal facility designed to nurture knowledge, creativity and innovation.

It is a multifunctional and multidisciplinary centre that seeks to turn the design sector into a leading industry in Europe and the world. Under this premise, JOYA is expanding its cultural offer to include the exhibit of “author objects,” made by sculptors, artists and craftsmen. This new approach is aimed at bonding two closely related artistic aspects and creating a link where art jewellery can be interpreted as an object, just as an author’s object can be considered a jewel.

The main objective of the fair since the beginning has always been to promote the work of national and international artists through exposure and communication and help open an “artistic market,” which is mainly underexplored.

This year, the JOYA-WORTH Award will be given for the first time to recognise the effort and commitment of participating artists. The winner will be a part of the Worth Project with a grant of €10,000 (around US$11,600) to develop new artistic endeavours.

JOYA is a platform that has served as a meeting point for interaction and debate in the art jewellery sector of Spain, which includes artists, galleries, private collectors and the cultural elite.

It offers a complete programme of events, exhibitions and conferences with the support of many stakeholders.